自然英语

A rakish, eye-catching crest really sets some birds apart. Picture the Blue Jaysof the East… or Stetter's Jays of the West.Ajay's crest is made up of a slender array of feathers on top of its head. Thesefeathers are a bit longer and can be spiked up or slicked back, depending onwhat the bird is trying to communicate.Whenjays are sitting on eggs, feeding their young, or hanging out with their mate,their crests lie low. But in the case of heightened arousal, like in courtshipor conflict, a jay's sharply raised crest tells a tale.Thesame goes for Northern Cardinals and, perhaps, most crested birds. Even birdswithout crests, like crows or sparrows, sometimes puff up their short crownfeathers.Whysome species have crests and others don't remains a complex evolutionaryquestion dating back to the dinosaurs.

Birdslay eggs. That means they don't nurse their young… right? Well, have you everheard of something called “pigeon milk?”Pigeons,one of the most ancient of domesticated birds, feed their nestlings a peculiar,milky liquid- straight from the adult's beak to the baby's throat.It'soften called “crop milk,” because it comes from special cells in the birds'crop. The crop is a section of the lower esophagus in some birds that is usedfor storing food before digestion.Unlikemilk from mammals, pigeon milk doesn't come from a mammary gland. But it doescome loaded with antioxidants and immune boosters that help the new hatchlingssurvive.Acouple of days before their eggs hatch, both pigeon parents start making themilky substance, which they'll feed their hatchlings over the first ten days oftheir lives. When the special feeding stops, the special crop milk cells returnto normal.Pigeonsand doves aren't the only birds that can make this special milk. Flamingos andsome species of penguins can, too.

Hello welcome to wild Suzhou, today I'll be talking about theblue-spotted ribbon-tail rayBlue spotted ribbon-tail rays live near the seafloor in coral reefs and inhabit temperate waters. It is able to dig in sand to conceal itself, andit uses this skill to catch prey. Another way it finds food is scooping up thesand into its mouth and filtering out the food. Its diet consists of small seaanimals like sand worms, shrimp, hermit crabs, small fish, and mussels. The population of the rays issuffering though due to fishing and habitat loss, like coral reefsdeteriorating. They are also traded as pets or to go to aquariums. Some of theblue spotted ribbon-tail rays predators include hammerhead sharks, orcas, andhuman activity. This ray is quite venomous, and capable of killing a human.Most of the time, these rays live on their own, except when migrating orraising offspring. It is gray, with bright blue spots covering its body, and atthe end of its tails are its stingers. For wild Suzhou I'mPalm-tree and thanks for listening.

Thisrollicking song belongs to a Black-headed Grosbeak. Like most birds, the malegrosbeak begins singing in earnest a few days after reaching his traditionalnesting grounds in spring.And,like most birds, he sings frequently when trying to attract a mate. He'll singa bit less while he and his mate incubate eggs, but pick up the pace againafter the young hatch. By late summer, his singing will cease.Everwonder how much a bird sings in one day? Some patient observers have shown thata typical songbird belts out its song between 1,000 and 2,500 times per day.Even though most bird songs last only a few seconds, that's a lot of warbling!Onnights with a full moon, male Sage Thrashers have been known to proclaim theirlong-winded songs all night. But the North American record-holder may well bethe Red-eyed Vireo. One such vireo delivered its short song over 22,000 timesin ten hours!

We'veall heard about the “early bird” getting the “worm.” We know it as sound adviceabout initiative and timely action. And we can almost see that robin leaningback and tugging that recalcitrant worm out of the ground. Research shows,however, that birds dining early and heavily may lower their life expectancy. Astudy of three North American woodland bird species found that sociallydominant birds stay lean during the day and then stoke up when it's mostimportant- later in the day, before a cold night. At night, birds avoidhypothermia by metabolizing fat. And by staying lean through most of the day,dominant birds are more agile in avoiding predators.Subordinatebirds have to look for food whenever and wherever they can find it, and carryfat on their bodies to hedge against unpredictable rations. Dominant birds,which can push subordinates off food, can choose when they eat and so lessentheir odds of being eaten themselves.Therefore,at least in the woodland bird's world, the revised moral might read: “Get the wormlate in the day- you'll sleep better and live longer.”

Somebirds are very well known. A few are even legendary.Theancient Greeks and Egyptians described a mythical bird called the Phoenix, amagnificent creature that was a symbol of renewal and rebirth.Accordingto legend, each Phoenix lived for 500 years, and only one Phoenix lived at atime. Just before its time was up, the Phoenix built a nest and set itself onfire. Then, a new Phoenix would rise from the ashes.Boththe Greeks and Egyptians associated the phoenix with the sun. One myth says thedawn song of the Phoenix was so beautiful, the sun god Apollo would stop hischariot- and the sun- to listen.Ancientsources differ on the bird's size and color. Some say it was the size of aneagle; others, bigger than an ostrich- with bright red and gold or maybe evenpurple feathers. All agree it- definitely had a golden aura. And in everyversion, it was exotic, literally one of a kind.PoetWallace Stevens imagined the mythical “gold-feathered bird” perched in a palmtree. He wrote:“Thebird sings. Its feathers shine.Thepalm stands on the edge of space.Thewind moves slowly in the branches.Thebird's fire-fangled feathers dangle down.”

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we will betalking about ambergris, an interesting product that comes from the intestinesof a sperm whale and has some unexpected uses.First, let's talkmore about what ambergris actually is. It is also called grey amber, which isjust a translation of the originally French word. This waxy, usually greysubstance is formed in the bile ducts of a sperm whale's intestine, and similarto poop, it exits the body the same way. Scientists believe that the reasonambergris exists is that it acts as a waxy coating over sharp objects, such assquid beaks, that sperm whales will eat. By doing this, these sharp and usuallyhard-to-digest objects will not scratch and hurt the inside of the whale'sintestine.But, what isambergris used for? In some places, especially in East Asia, ambergris has beenused as traditional medicine. But more common and more surprising is thatambergris used to be a common ingredient in perfume. First, it is used as afixative, meaning that the smell would last longer on the wearer once they hadput the perfume on. It is also described to have a pleasant and earthy smell,making it desirable for luxury perfume makers, especially since ambergris is sorare. Ancient Egyptians would burn ambergris as incense, whereas modernEgyptians use it in cigarettes.However, ambergrisis also incredibly rare. It's estimated that only around 1 percent of spermwhales will ever make ambergris. Also, it will usually float around in theocean for several years before it reaches the shore for someone to harvest it.Because of its rarity and also because of legal questions surrounding howethical it is to harvest ambergris, most perfume makers have stopped usingambergris and instead turned to synthetic alternatives that work just as well.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

Youmight think the first bird species that humans raised in captivity would be arelatively small one, like a chicken.Butevidence suggests that people in New Guinea reared the cassowary, often calledthe world's deadliest bird, as much as 18,000 years ago, long before thedomestication of chickens.Theremains of cassowary eggs and bones at archaeological sites in New Guineaindicate that people gathered the eggs, possibly allowing the more mature eggsto hatch into chicks.Allcassowaries possess fearsome sharp toes that have been known to kill orseriously injure humans. While Northern and Southern Cassowaries can reachheights of five feet or more, the Dwarf Cassowary stands just three and a halffeet tall.Researcherssuspect that by collecting nearly-hatched cassowary eggs, probably from theDwarf Cassowary, people could have easily reared their chicks. Today in NewGuinea, captive cassowary chicks become imprinted on their human carers,allowing people to raise them to adulthood.Cassowariesmay not be the cuddliest of birds. But people found a clever way to live besidethem long ago.

It'sspring, and the Ruby-crowned Kinglet's loud, rollicking song echoes from theforest edge in northern and western lowlands. Listen carefully, and you canhear three distinct parts of its song.Thistiny powerhouse of a singer is one of the smallest songbirds on the continents,weighing in at just a little more than half a chickadee. Mostly green and hardto spot, flitting from twig to twig, it hovers in mid-air as it catches tinyinsects. The green crown-feathers on the male kinglet conceal a swatch of redones. When in the mood to sing, he raises this narrow, crimson crest. Thekinglet's Latin name suits it well: Regulus calendula- the “glowing littleking,” a regal luster that points to his ruby crown, but could also describehis song.TheRuby-crowned Kinglet turns up his spring song only in the lowlands. Later thismonth, he'll depart to sing- and nest- at mile-high altitudes in our mountainforests.

Arobin tugging an earthworm from the ground is a symbol of spring. But that wormit's eating hasn't always been here.Whenglaciers pushed south into what is now the U.S. around 20,000 years ago, theyscraped off the soil layer and spelled the end of native earthworms except inthe southern states. So that earthworm plucked by the robin is probably arelatively new arrival, most likely a species Europeans conveyed to theAmericas in plant soil or in the ballast of ships.Soif not earthworms, what were robins feeding their chicks before Europeansarrived? Well. Probably some of the more than a hundred kinds of insects andother invertebrates, as well as berries, that robins are known to eat.Robinsprefer to forage in short grass to avoid potential predators. But after thelast ice sheets melted back, where was the short grass they liked? Onespeculation is that prehistoric bison, horses and mammoths grazed heavily inplaces, creating robin-friendly landscapes.Justas robins now share pastures with cows, perhaps 15,000 years ago they hoppedamong giant bison or woolly mammoths.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we will betalking about invasive species. What are they, and what are some of the mostdestructive ones?First, what is aninvasive species? An invasive species is any organism, such as a plant, aninsect, or a bird, that has been introduced to an ecosystem that it doesn'tbelong in, and is now causing harm. An invasive species can cause harm byhurting the environment or human health. They usually are spreadunintentionally by humans, such as rats getting onto a ship from Europe thenspreading to the Americas.Now, what are someexamples of particularly destructive invasive species?The first would bemosquitoes, specifically, the Asian tiger mosquito and the yellow fevermosquito. They cause lots of damage through the diseases they spread, such asZika, Chikungunya, yellow fever, and dengue, which cause significant threats topublic health.A second fairlydestructive invasive species would be rats. This is due to a few things. First,they are very strong and resistant and have driven many native species toextinction. The Pacific Rat, native to southeast Asia, has wiped out 1000 ormore species of island birds. Additionally, rats are pests that destroy cropsand also spread disease.Third, cats arealso very dangerous invasive species. Being skilled predators, feral cats haveno problem hunting birds and small mammals for food, but this can often driveanimals to extinction.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening, and see you next time.

The Tasmanian devil liveson the Island of tasmania in Australia, in forests and rainforests.It has adapted to its environment with its Blackfur, since its nocturnal, it helps it go undetected when it's hunting andhiding from predators. It's good sense of smell helps it find food in the dark.The Tasmanian devil eats all kinds of meat it can find, so it is a carnivore.It scavenges and hunts to find food. This animal is mostly nocturnal, so mostof its activity happens during the day. They used to live on mainland Australia,but its habitat and population has been reduced to around 20,000. A disease called devil facial tumordisease, causes tumors to grow on their face which makes it hard to eat, theyeventually starve. It gets hit by cars, its habitat gets destroyed, anddomesticated animals threaten them. The Tasmanian devils predators include Dogsand foxes. Their good sense of smell can also be used to protect itself fromencountering predators. They live in Solitary. The tasmanian devil is relatedto the quoll and native cats. They are both around 2 feet long, but the male isslightly larger. Its lifespan is around 6 years, and They can start mating at 2years of age. The Tasmanian devil's scientific name is Sarcophilus harrisii.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we willtalk about fairy wrasses, which are a genus of very vibrant tropical fish. Whathappened to create the multiple different species of fairy wrasse?The fairy wrasseis a type of small, reef fish. The males are known for their vibrant colors,which they like to show off during courtship. There are many different speciesof fairy wrasse, and their genetic diversity has been a topic of interest forsome scientists. There are around 45 species of fairy wrasses, and new ones arefound every year.However, a newstudy shows that changes in sea level over the last few millions year may havesomething to do with the genetic diversity and evolution of fairy wrasses. Buthow does this work?Fairy wrasses arenaturally found in the Indo-Pacific ocean, and are believed to have first evolvedin an area called the Coral Triangle, which is named after the abundance ofcoral found there. Then, fairy wrasse spread throughout the oceans and evolvedinto many different colors. Scientists think this is because of the history ofthe area they are found in.TheIndo-Australian Archipelago is a raised area of rock found between Asia andAustralia. Many islands are found here, such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.This Archipelago is known as a “soft barrier” and this is because sometimeswhen the sea level is low, the raised land creates a wall that is too difficultfor fish to cross. But when sea levels are higher, fish are able to swim overthe archipelago.Because of this,fish have split apart from each other on either side of the archipelago, and sothey could only interact and breed with fish on their side of the ocean. Thisisolates species and makes new species evolve faster. Additionally, the sealevel raised and lowered multiple times, meaning that new species were alsocreated multiple times.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

The glasswing butterflylives Around central america. Like most other species of butterflies,this species migrates because it needs a new food source or it can't survive inthe current climate. It eats Flowers, plants, and nectar, whichmakes This species an Herbivore. Butterflies have long tongues, which help itsuck up nectar from flowers. The main predator for this species and mostother species of butterflies is Birds. The glasswing butterfly protects itselfwith its diet, it eats a specific plant that has a toxin in it, which makes ittaste bad so less predators will want to eat it. The clear wings also make itharder to detect.During mating season, they live in big groups.It is around 1 or 2 inches long, and has clear wings with red and brown scalesbordering the wings. After undergoing metamorphosis, it only lives for up to 12weeks. The reason this species has “clear wings” is because the tissuespanning between the wings has no scales, making it look clear. They are alsoimportant for the environment because they are pollinators, when they eat fromflowers they get some pollen on their legs, and as they go around theypollinate other flowers. The scientific name for The Glasswing butterflyis Greta oto.For wild suzhou im palmtree and thanks forlistening

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we willtalk about coffee pulp, which is a waste product made from producing coffeebeans, and how coffee pulp could potentially help restore rainforests.Coffee pulp is thebyproduct of producing coffee beans. Coffee beans are the seeds of a fruitcalled the Coffee Cherry. Though the coffee cherry isn't actually a cherry, itcertainly looks like one, as the fruit is usually bright red or yellow. To makeroasted coffee beans, coffee producers remove the flesh and skin of the“cherry” and keep the seeds inside. However, in this process, about half of theCoffee Cherry is not used and this creates a lot of waste.However,researchers at the University of Hawaii ran an experiment using the coffee pulpto see if it would make good compost and possibly restore Costa Ricanrainforests. They used two areas of land. Both of these areas were worn outfrom agriculture and therefore abandoned by their original owners. The areaswere covered in an invasive species of grass from Africa that was used to feedcows. In the experiment, the researchers left one of the areas of landundisturbed, and in the other, they covered the ground with a 20-inch thicklayer of coffee pulp. Researchers then waited two years and saw some amazingresults.In the area thatwas left undisturbed, only 20 percent of the area had started to regrow, andthe trees that had regrown were not that tall. However, in the area covered bycoffee pulp, 80 percent of the area had started to regrow, and the trees were,on average, 4 times taller than the trees in the first area. The soil was alsomuch more healthy and nutrient-rich, and the invasive grass from Africa hadbeen killed off.This shows thatcoffee producers have a way to dispose of their waste, and also help damagedrainforests to regrow. Usually, tropical forests take centuries to regrow, butthis dramatic growth in only 2 years could be very promising. However, moreresearch needs to be done to make sure coffee pulp won't pollute rivers andother bodies of water. The process is also very smelly and can attract insectslike flies that are pests to humans.Now, how does thisprocess work? It works because the coffee pulp smothers the area underneath it,making it suffocate and die. When it dies, it decomposes and nutrients arereleased from the plant. The nutrients from the decomposed grass mixes with thecoffee pulp, creating a layer of rich, fertile soil. Then, insects will startto come, birds will come to eat the insects, who will also drop seeds into thearea. The nutrient-rich soil will then boost the growth of the seeds in thearea, helping to regrow the rainforest.

The vulturineguinea fowl lives in the continent of Africa, specifically Ethiopia,Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania. Its habitat is deserts and grasslands, with talltrees for it to nest in. they make their nests out of grass and twigs. Sinceit lives in deserts, it has adapted to be able to go a long timewithout water. These birds eat Small mammals, insects, lizards, seeds androots. Its diet makes it an Omnivore. Most of their activity is during the dayso it is Diurnal. It's quite a populous animal, and is not close toendangerment. Their predators are Birds of prey, monkeys, and small mammals whosteal their eggs.The vulturineguinea fowl is related to Pheasants, partridges and turkeys. It is closeto 70 cm long, around the size of a small turkey. The difference between themale and female of this species is the Male is bigger and has a larger crest.It has Bluefeathers, with spiky white feathers protruding from it. Their lifespan is 15years, and they can start mating at 2. Each time they lay eggs they have up to8 eggs. Its scientific name is Acryllium vulturinum, another name it hasis the royal guineafowl. When these birds travel, they will be with a group ofbirds, around 20-50.For wild SuzhouI'm palmtree and thanks for listening.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we willtalk about side-blotched lizards, a group of lizards that are unique because oftheir mating habits.The side-blotchedlizard looks like an ordinary lizard. They are mainly dull browns and greys,with some white spots or stripes running down their backs. They don't look veryinteresting, but as I said earlier, it's their mating habits that have madethem famous. The males come in three types. Some have orange throats, some haveyellow throats, and some have blue throats. This might sound odd, but think ofhow humans can have different skin and hair colors.Furthermore, thecolor of the side-blotched lizard's throat also tells us how they mate. Orangemeans they are more aggressive and have larger territories with more females.Yellow lizards are not as aggressive and don't have territories. Instead, theywill sneak into the orange lizard's territory to mate with the females. Bluelizards have smaller territories and usually only one female, but they willteam up with other blue lizards.This specialmating habit has given the side-blotched lizard the name of “rock paper scissorlizard” since each strategy for mating success has its positives and negatives.Orange males have larger territories with more females, which makes it moredifficult for blue males to succeed since they breed with only one female.However, yellow lizards will sneak into the territories of orange lizards andmate with females. Yellow lizards, however, can't compete with blue lizardssince they are better at defending their territories, and other blue lizardshelp each other defend females in their territory. This creates a cycle oforange, yellow, and blue, or rock paper scissors.In some places,scientists have noticed that some varieties of males have disappeared. Usually,the yellow lizards are the first to disappear, since they are no longer able tocompete with the orange and blue lizards. Sometimes, more than one color willdisappear. Because of this, the offspring of the side-blotched lizards in thatarea will start to change, meaning that new species of lizards might start toemerge after millions of years.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening, and see you next time.

The pangolin lives in Asia and Africa, depending on the species.They can be found in grasslands, forests, and in dry bush. It uses its toughclaws to help it build burrows that they live in. They eat mostly ants, larvae,and small insects, so it is a carnivore. It has a long tongue that it sticksout to lick up food. This animal actually does not have teeth, so it swallowssome stones to help it mush up its food. Other animals like the crocodile andsome bird species also do this. They are shy and nocturnal animals, it is a pretty rareanimal and stays hidden. It is Very endangered due to a variety of reasons.It's Hunted for meat, its scales, and also it is sometimes used in traditionalmedicine. The pangolins predators include, Big cats, snakes, hyenas, and humansthat hunt. It protects itself by Curling up into a ball, and it's strong scalesprotect it. It can also burrow into the ground. These pangolins live alone, and use scents to mark their territories. The males of this species are larger. The smallest of thespecies is the chinese pangolin, weighing 8 pounds and being a bit more than afoot long, and the largest is the giant pangolin, weighing 70 pounds and being4 feet long. The animal is brown, scaly, and has a snout, similar to that of anant-eater, since the animals are related. They can live up to 20 years, and canstart mating at 2 years of age. The scientific name for the pangolin ispholidota.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we will betalking about Brood X, also called Brood 10, which is a group of cicadas thatwill be emerging in North America this year, 2021.First, what is sospecial about Brood 10, and what makes it different from other species ofcicadas? Usually, cicadas have life cycles that are 2 to 5 years long. They areunderground for most of their lives until the weather gets warm and adultcicadas emerge to breed. Brood 10 has a 17-year life cycle.Brood 10 is justone group, however. There are around a dozen other broods, but Brood 10 will bethe one emerging this year. The last time this group emerged was in 2004, 17years ago. Brood 10 is part of a North American genus of cicadas, known asMagicicada. They are unique among cicadas since their life cycles are 13 or 17years long, which is much longer than the typical 2 to 5-year life cycles ofmost cicadas. Of the 3,000 species of cicadas, there are only 7 species ofthese so-called “periodical cicadas”.No one reallyknows why Brood 10 and related species do this, but we do know how they manageto be consistent with their 17-year life cycle. Cicada nymphs live undergroundand they feed on the liquids from plant roots. Most cicadas will mature fasterand emerge more frequently. Additionally, they don't emerge at the same time.Periodical cicadas, all mature at the same pace and therefore emerge at thesame time. They do this by counting the seasonal pulses of liquids that flowthrough the plant roots they feed on. Once they finish 13 or 17 cycles, theywait until the temperature is right and they emerge all at the same time.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

The Kinkajou is asmall and cute animal that is related to olingos and raccoons. They inhabitSouth American rainforests, and spend lots of time in the trees, which meansthey are arboreal. It uses its long tail to balance itself and hang from trees.The Kinkajou also has sharp claws to help them climb trees. The rainforestenvironment it lives in is great for it because the animal eats lots of fruitfrom trees, as well as honey. The Kinkajou has a good sense of smell and candetect movement well, which may help it find food.Like a largemajority of small mammals, their predators include birds of prey, large snakes,foxed, big cats, and larger carnivorous animals. When they feel threatened theymay use their claws to harm them or run away. They are nocturnal so they sleepduring the day.Their body alone can get up to 20 inches, but their tail almostdoubles their size.The Kinkajou has light brown fur, and a longtail. They can live 23 years when held in captivity. The animals live togetherin small groups, where they take care of eachother. The scientific name forKinkajou is potos flavus, but it is also known as the honey bear, because itsometimes eats honey. This species is also very important to the environment aswell, as they are pollinators. When they eat fruit and flowers, they take thepollen and spread it to other flowers.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we will betalking about death-feigning, and why do some animals do it?First, what isdeath-feigning? It is a fancier way of saying that an animal is pretending tobe dead, usually so that they can escape a predator. There are many examples ofanimals doing this, and one of the most famous examples would be the Opossum.However, many other organisms do this as well, such as insects, frogs, andsnakes. Charles Darwin once recorded a beetle he had found had pretended to bedead for 23 minutes.But why would ananimal do this? Wouldn't it make them easier to catch if they're pretending tobe dead? Sometimes, this is true. But in certain species, pretending to be deadmakes predators less likely to eat them. There are risks to eating an animalthat has been dead for too long, since bacteria and other diseases could befound in the carcass. This is similar to how humans usually throw out old andmoldy food instead of eating it.When it feelsthreatened, the hognose snake will lay with its belly up, secrete a foulsmelling liquid, and sometimes spew blood from their mouth. This gives thepredators the sense that there is something wrong with it and that they shouldavoid eating it.Another animal,the Fire-Bellied Toad, will also pretend to be dead when threatened. However,when it rolls onto its back, any predators looking for a meal will see thebright yellow-orange markings on the toad's belly, and they will usually avoideating it because bright colors usually mean that an animal is poisonous.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

Duck-billed PlatypusThe Duck billed platypus lives in EasternAustralia, and it inhabits freshwater streams and riverbanks. It has adapted toits environment with webbed feet, thick fur, and a paddle like tail forswimming. Their tails also store fat incase they can't go looking for food inthe winter. It is a carnivore so it eats a variety of meat and other animals suchas small fish, shrimps, insects, larvae, and worms. Their bill is verysensitive and has receptors in it so they can detect prey and movement. The platypus is a nocturnal animal so itlooks for food during the night and is inactive during the day. The exactnumber of platypuses left in the wild is unknown, as they are not endangered,but their population is decreasing due to climate change, habitat destructionand other factors. The platypuses predators include cats, birds, dogs,snakes, foxes, and also humans. They can protect themselves by swimming away,or if they are protecting themselves from others from their species, they mayuse their spur. The male platypuses are slightly larger and also have a spur onits inner leg, the female has this spur when it is younger but loses iteventually.Most of them are around half a meter long. Theyhave brown fur, a flat paddle-like tail, and black feet and bill. This speciescan live up to 17 years and start mating at the age of 2. The scientific nameof platypus is Ornithorhynchus anantinus, the person who found it thought itwasn't a real animal, and just another animal with a duck's beak put onto it.The name means flat footed duck like.For wild suzhou Im palmtree and thanks forlistening

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we willtalk about “Rat Island”, an island of the coast of Alaska, USA that shows thestrength of ecosystems and nature.“Rat island”, wasan island that was accidentally introduced to rats, since rats weren'tnaturally found there. This was because of ships sailing to the area and alsopeople who stayed on the island during World War II. As a result, the invasivespecies spread its way through the island and people started to call it RatIsland. Rodents are very resilient, and because of this, they are verydangerous to natural ecosystems since they reproduce easily and are hard to getrid of. They easily adapted to their new habitat and quickly ruined theecosystem.However, aconservation group was able to remove the rats from the island, and what's interestingabout this is that the ecosystem on the island was able to heal and go back tonormal. The island, now renamed Hawadax island, was able to return to itsnatural state in just over ten years.The problem withthe rats on the island was that they were predators, and would often eat eggsand chicks. This nearly wiped out the shorebird population, since so many eggsand chicks were being eaten. As a result, the populations of snails and seasnails that the shorebirds ate grew a lot and started killing off the kelp inthe ocean. So to reverse the effect, the conservation group removed all of therats in 2008, and were now able to watch the process of recovery on HawadaxIsland.Once the rats wereonce, seabirds were able to repopulate and started eating snails again, helpingkelp to grow again in the waters surrounding Hawadax Island. Overall, thisstudy shows how destructive rats can be, and also how resilient naturalecosystems can be to heal so quickly.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

The Bald Uakari Monkey isvery noticeable, it has a bright pink face with no hair, resembling a mask, andlots of light brown fur on the rest of its body. The uakari monkey lives in theamazon river basin, where the climate is rainy and quite hot. Most of the timethey are in the trees, meaning they are arboreal. Most of the year the basin isflooded but when it isn't they are able to go down and find food. They eat lotsof fruits, seeds, roots, plants and also insects, they forage during the day.The Uakari Monkeys live in quite a safeenvironment, but they still need to be careful of snakes and large birds whomight eat their offspring. The Uakaris communicate with sounds and theirtails. They can also make their hair stand up if they feel threatened. Likelots of other animals living near it, its habitat has been threatened bylogging, it is also is hunted sometimes. Females of this species can startmating at the age of 3, and the male at the age of 5 or 6.One of its identifying features is its brightred face, the color comes from the blood underneath its face. They live ingroups of about 30, but can have more. The groups help each other find food andtake care of eachother. The Uakari is quite small, it only weighs around7 pounds and can be up to half a meter long. The name for this animal comesfrom the people who live near it.For wild Suzhou I'm palmtree and thanks forlistening.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we will betalking about the black-footed ferret and how it might be saved from goingextinct.The black-footed ferret doesn't lookextraordinary compared to other types of ferrets. It's mostly white and lightbrown, with black feet, a black tipped tail, and black mask on its face. Italso has a dark brown back. The black footed ferret is endangered, with onlyaround 500 of them left in the wild. Habitat loss, disease, and less food for theblack footed ferret to eat make it more difficult for the species to survive.Nowadays, humans step in to help the species, usually by vaccinating theferrets and also using insecticides to protect them from fleas.However, a new solution for saving theblack-footed ferret now seems possible, since the black-footed ferret is nowthe first cloned endangered species native to North America. The black-footedferret was cloned, meaning that it has the same DNA as its parent. Normally,cloning is used to talk about the cells in a body duplicating as the bodygrows. But here, it means that there are two of the same species that areidentical.The cloned ferret, who has been namedElizabeth Ann, was cloned from a black-footed ferret that died more than 30 yearsago. The cells from the ferret were frozen to keep them preserved, untilrecently. Last year, they were turned into embryos, which is an unborn baby. Acompany who specialized in cloning pets was able to do the same with theblack-footed ferret and grow the embryos in another species of ferret.Elizabeth Ann will live in a conservation center with her siblings, who werealso cloned. Scientists hope that in the future, they will be able to clone amale black-footed ferret and save the species from extinction.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we will betalking about Anglerfish, which is a group of around 210 rather unique lookingfish.First, what is anAnglerfish? They are a group of rather bizarre looking fish that have amodified fin that sits on the top of their head. This modified fin has a fleshypiece of skin attached at the end, which looks like a bait a fisherman woulduse. This is where anglerfish get their name from. In english, the word anglermeans a fisherman who uses a fishing rod, which is what the anglerfish lookslike it is doing. This is because the fin on the top of its head looks like afishing rod, and works like one too. Other fish are attracted to the fin on thetop of the angler fish's head, thinking that they have found something to eat.Instead, the anglerfish is going to eat them! There are four different types ofanglerfish: frogfish, batfish, goosefish, and the deep-sea angler.Batfish, which isone group of anglerfish, has a unique feature. One big difference betweenbatfish and other types of anglerfish is that the fishing rod shaped fin on thetop of its head is retractable, meaning it can be hidden when it's not beingused.When people thinkof anglerfish, they probably think of deep-sea anglers. These are by far themost recognizable group. Unlike other groups, they usually swim instead of walkalong the ocean floor, and only the females have the fishing rod shaped fin onthe top of their head. Additionally, the bait, which is the piece of skinattached to the end of the rod, usually glows because of the dark underwaterenvironment. In some species, the male anglerfish is parasitic, attaching andfusing to its female mate and eventually becoming totally dependent on thefemale to survive.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

Hello Welcome toWild suzhou, today i am talking about some interesting large sea animalsThe largest clamis the giant clam. Giant clams live on the floor of Indian Ocean, SouthernParts of the Pacific Ocean, and waters around South Africa. They're importantto the ecosystem because they are able to serve as shelter to other animals.The large animal can live up to 100 years, the oldest one of theirspecies is estimated to have been 500 years old, but it died in 2006. Theymostly live on algae that grows on them. The giant clams can grow to 4 feetlong or 1.2 meters.The largest sharkis The Whale Shark, it's habitat is warm oceans, especially near coasts. Unlikelots of other sharks, it doesn't eat large animals. Its teeth act like filters,and it swims with it's mouth open to collect microorganisms like krill,plankton, and fish eggs. Their lifespan is around 70 years. They can get up to33 feet, but have been recorded as even bigger.The largestoctopus is the Giant Pacific Octopus, It lives in the Pacific ocean, hence thename. It eats crustaceans, fish, and even some smaller octopus's. The youngeroctopuses eat dead animals sometimes. This species of octopus only lives 3-5years. They can camouflage from predators, which include sharks, seals, andsometimes eels. The average length of the Giant Pacific octopus is 17 feet or 5meters, But the largest one found was 30 feet long, which is close to 10meters.For Wild Suzhou. I'mpalm tree and thanks for listening.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou,Today, we will betalking about Na Doi, a small fishing village in Thailand that was able to savethe fish populations that lived in their local river.Na Doi is a smallvillage with around 75 households that is in northwest Thailand. In 1998, theynoticed the amount of fish in their rivers was declining, as fishermen weren'tcatching as family fish. They also noticed that the fish they caught weresmaller than they used to be. To fix the problem, the villagers decided to keepan area of the river off limits from fishing, hoping that the fish populationwould be able to grow.Their projectworked, and now the section of the river is filled with larger fish and morefish. Even areas outside of the protected area have more fish nowadays,according to villagers. Na Doi is not the only village to have tried this.Dozens of other villages have decided to try the same thing, with similarresults. These results show that this tactic could be useful in larger scaleconservation of river animals, which are at higher risk than both land andocean animals.In 2012, AaronKoning visited the river valley that the Na Doi lived in to see how successfulit really was. He spent several years visiting other villages in the area, andfound that the bigger and older reserves were more successful since they had givenmore time and space for populations to recover. However, even small reservesthat were the size of a bathtub were able to help struggling fish populations.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

The giant sloth is anextinct animal that could be distinguished by its large size. The species firstappeared 35 million years ago. They evolved from the Promegatherium, which wasanother large mammal, in South America. Their preferred habitat was forests.Later on, or 8 million years ago, they started migrating towards North America.During this era, a lot of other animals were migrating. It went extinct around12 to 10 thousand years ago. This was a ground sloth so it didn't climb treeslike sloths today.Like modern sloths, the giant sloth was anherbivore. It ate the leaves of the yucca tree, agave plants, and grasses.Since they were so tall, they were able to easily grab the branches. Somespecies of the sloth were 10 feet tall and weighed one ton, while other speciescould stand up to 20 feet tall and weighed 4 tons. There isn't a solid answeras to why prehistoric animals were so much larger back then, but somescientists say it is due to more oxygen in the air or simply more space. Thesloths could be more than double the height of a tall human.There are lots of theories as to why the giantsloth species went extinct, and more than one factor probably contributed toit. The most likely explanation is that they were hunted to extinction byhuman hunters. Another theory is that the end of the ice age caused theirextinction. For wild Suzhou, I'm palm tree and thankyou for listening.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we willtalk about fritillaria delavayi, a small flower that grows in Southwest Chinathat recently has changed a lot.Fritillariadelavayi is a small, yellow plant that is often used in traditional Chinesemedicine to treat illnesses like bronchitis and coughing. This flower belongsto a group of flowers, known as fritillaries. It has 3 to 5 bright greenleaves, and once a year blooms with a single flower. This flower is a brightyellow and looks sort of like an upside down tulip.However, recently,the coloring of these flowers have changed a lot. In areas where thefritillaries are harvested more, this species has changed. The bright green andyellow flowers have become dull and are no longer as beautiful. Instead theyhave become grey and brown.The reason forthis is because of their high demand. Since many people use this fritillariadelavayi in traditional medicine, people want it more. Because people want theflower, more of them are harvested from the wild. A kilogram of these littleflowers needs more than 3500 flowers. But how does this affect their color? Thepeople who harvest the flowers are relying on their eyesight to find them, sobright yellow blooms will be easier to see and are picked more often. Thismeans that the remaining flowers are more brown and gray, since they are harderto see. Because they are the surviving flowers, they will pollinate and thenext generation of fritillaries will also be brown and gray. This is an exampleof natural selection, since these duller plants are better at camouflage andcan better hide from humans, while the yellow flowers cannot hide from humansand will not reproduce.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

As the years go by more andspecies become endangered, and a large portion of those are birds.The African gray parrotThe African gray parrot, also known as the congogray parrot is a species native to Sub saharan africa. Usually they live inrainforests, but they are becoming more popular as pets. But keeping them aspets has become harmful to their population. Some pet traders steal the youngbirds from their nests or will take the adult birds since they are easy tocatch. They ship them in unsafe conditions which causes them to die, and theirhabitat is also decreasing due humans starting to occupy their spaces. They areone of, if not the smartest parrots. They are able to mimic other sounds andtalk. They Are herbivores and eat all kinds of fruits and plants.The California condorThe majority of california condors live incalifornia, but can also be found in neighboring states to the south. Theirhabitat is deserts and dry rocky areas. Like other vultures, this bird eats thecarcassases of large mammals. The reason for their decline in population isn'tnatural predators, as they are scavengers. Some of the food they eat iscontaminated which causes them to be sick. They have a wingspan of 9 feet andweigh 20 pounds. They have quite a long life span and can live for 60 years.The Mariana Fruit dove.The Mariana fruit dove inhabits tropical forestsin the Northern Islands of Guam, where the climate is very rainy and humid.Their favorite foods are papaya and figs, since they live in rainforests thereis an abundance in fruits. The reason for their endangerment is an invasivespecies, the brown tree snake was accidentally brought to Guam and startedpreying on the birds. Like lots of other endangered animals, habitatdestruction also contributes to the issue. For wild Suzhou I'm palm tree and thank you forlistening.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we will betalking about bobbit worms, also known as sand strikers. These frighteningcreatures live under the seafloor and are sneaky and quick predators.First, what arebobbit worms? They are marine worms that can be anywhere from 10 centimeters to3 meters long. They can come in many different colors, from brown, to purple toblack. Their bodies are soft but have an exoskeleton, just like a spider or abeetle would have. Bobbit worms are ambush predators, using their antennae tosense for prey, grabbing them with their strong jaws, and then pulling theminto their burrows.Newly foundfossils show that these worms may have been around in the ocean around 20million years ago. The fossils found are called trace fossils. A trace fossilis different from what most people expect fossils to be, because they areevidence of footprints, trails, and burrows that ancient animals used to livein. In this case, scientists found trace fossils of the burrows that bobbitworms live in. These fossils were found by biologist Masakazu Nara when he noticedthe weird burrows in the rocks he was studying. They were unlike anythingscientists had seen before.It took some hardwork to figure out what had made the fossils, but two things helped scientiststo find the answer. First, the tops of the burrows were eroded, or worn down,shows that there was an animal moving in and out of the tunnel. The shape alsoshowed that the animal was moving out of the burrow quickly, like bobbit wormsquickly ambushing prey. Second, the tops of the burrows were rich in iron. Thisis because bobbit worms release mucus to stop the burrow from wearing down asquickly. Bacteria will feed on the mucus, creating a compound known as ironsulfide, which has iron in it.Finally, newfossils have been found in Canada that are around 400 million years old, withsigns of worms that move and act like bobbit worms do. Maybe one day, evenolder fossils could be found with fossil evidence of the intriguing and uniquebobbit worm.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

Hello Welcome to WildSuzhou, today I am talking about 3 very small animals.Just looking at the Brookesia Micra, it doesn'tlook very striking or unique, but when you look at its size that's whenyou can see what makes it different. Another name for them is the Leafchameleon. They are only 3 centimeters long, since they are so small they alsoweigh barely anything. They eat small crickets and flies and theirpredators are small mammals and birds. The Brookesia Micra lives on the Islandof Madagascar, in Mountainous forests where there is lots of foliage to hide in.The etruscan shrew is one of the smallestmammals, it's closely related to moles. They are 3-5 centimeters long. Eventhough they are very small they eat a lot, small mammals like the shrew usuallyhave a fast metabolism and need lots of energy. During the winter, since theydon't hibernate, they are able to shrink their bodies so they consume lessenergy. It lives in parts of South Asia, and coasts around the mediterranian.The last animal is the pygmy seahorse. It's only2 and a half centimeters long. Their small size allows them to hide andcamouflage very well, as they blend in with their surrounding coral. They havebumps and texture on them to look like the coral, and they also are the colorof the coral they live on. When the baby pygmy seahorses are born they arebarely 2 millimeters. They live in the indo pacific ocean.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we willtalk about adaptations, and look at some interesting examples of adaptationsthat animals have made.First, what is anadaptation? It's how animals change so that they can survive better indifferent places. For example, animals that live in cold places might havethicker, warmer fur, like bears. Another example would be birds that live in ornear water, who have evolved to have webbed feet. These adaptations happenbecause they make life easier for the animals that adapt.This idea ofadaptation is closely related to Darwin's theory of natural selection, alsoknown as “survival of the fittest”. This means that some animals have traits,or characteristics, that make them survive better. A bear with thicker fur willdo better in the winter than one with thinner, less warm fur. The second bearmight even die. This means that the first bear will survive and reproduce, soits babies will also have thick fur and survive better.There are threemain types of adaptations: physiological, structural and behavioral. Aninteresting physiological adaptation occurs in five families of Antarctic fish,who have a special protein in their blood that prevents their blood fromfreezing up. This stops the fish from freezing to death, and because this is souseful, these five families of fish make up 90% of all the fish in that area.An example of a structural adaptation would be giraffes, who have longer necksso they can reach leaves on tall trees. Finally, an example of a behavioraladaptation would be penguins huddling together to stay warm. Another would bebirds migrating in the winter, since they are looking for food and resources,and also a place to mate and lay their eggs.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

The andean condor lives in the andes mountains,as well as grasslands, lowland deserts, and coastlines. The climate in theandes can be very harsh, in some parts it is very rainy and others quite dry.The andean condors use the natural environment to grow their offspring, insteadof having to make nests they will lay their eggs up high on a cliff or in acave to protect them. The adults will scavenge for food and bring it back tothe offspring. Adult andean condors don't have any predatorssince they are at the top of the food chain. The andean condor population issuffering because some farmers add poison to their animals' carcasses to keepthem away. Originally it was just to keep larger predators away but if thecondors eat the poison they will also be injured. The andean condor has a verygood sense of smell, they use it to find the best food options, their accurateeye sight allows them to see food high up in the sky. The andean condor is special because of howlarge it is, it's the largest raptor in the world with a wing span up to 10feet. They only weigh 30 pounds which seems small compared to their wingspan.This species is relatively rare, so its lifespan isn't really known, but itsestimated to be around 50 years and has lived up to 75 years in captivity. Theytake quite a long time to reproduce and currently their population isdecreasing, there are less than 7000 left.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we will betalking about mutations, and we will also look at a couple interestingexamples.First, what is amutation? It's when there's a change in the structure of a gene. What does thatmean? Genes are what make your hair brown instead of red, or tall instead ofshort. They tell your body what you will look like and how you will survive.They are made from building blocks called nucleotides. There are four differentnucleotides. These are kind of like letters in the alphabet, and if you movethem around you can make different words that mean different things. Genes arelike different words.Now, a mutation iswhen the gene is changed. Think of the letters in the alphabet again. Forexample, maybe your writing a sentence that says “I like chocolate ice cream”but you accidentally write “I like vanilla ice cream” instead. The meaning ofthe sentence has changed. When this happens to a gene, it will not do thethings it is supposed to do. Most of the time, this is not bad, but sometimesit can make people sick. Sometimes, the mutation is worse and instead ofwriting “I like chocolate ice cream” you've written something entirelydifferent. This can be much more dangerous.Sometimes, though,mutations can be useful. Have you ever seen a really big strawberry? A mutationhappened which made the strawberry different, so instead of being a normalsized strawberry, it could be double or even triple the size! It can also helpanimals to survive, because if a frog is darker and has more patterns on itsback, it can blend into the environment better and hide from predators.Hopefully, youlearned something new about mutations. Can you think of any mutations thatyou've seen before?For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

The honduran white bats aremuch less scary than their other bat relatives. Instead of being dark andhaving not a lot of hair, these bats are white and have fur. They're only 3-5centimeters long and weigh 6 grams. The wings, mouth, and ears are a lightyellow and orange color. Their color is special because they're one of the onlybat species to be white instead of brown or black.Like the name states, the Honduran white batlives in Honduras, it also lives in Costa rica and Panama. They live inrainforests that have a plant called the heliconia plant. They need it for it'sspecial leaves that they will use to make their shelter for a night. They cutalong the large leaves so it makes a tent shape that the bats are able to hangonto the middle and sleep. The plants are quite tall so they are able toprotect the bats from predators. Because of how it makes its shelter, it has anickname that is caribbean white tent making bat.These bats sleep during the day but hunt duringthe night, this means they're nocturnal. The honduran white bats eat fruit andplants. Like a lot of other small mammals in the rainforests, they have to bepretty careful of predators. Their most common predators are possums, snakes,bigger mammals, and owls. This species of bat isn't endangered, but since itslives in the rainforest, it's habitat is prone to being logged. their life spanis 15-20 years.

Today, we willtalk about the Giant Water Lily, which is also known as the Amazon water lilyand royal water lily. Water lilies, also known as lily pads, are floweringplants that grow on water, and their leaves are large and round and float onthe surface of the water.The Giant WaterLily is the largest water lily in the world, since its leaves can grow to bearound 3 meters in diameter, or around 10 feet. Imagine a plate that is 3meters long floating on the surface of the water. The stem of the plant can beup to 8 meters long, or up to 26 feet. Their flowers are 40 centimeters indiameter, or 16 inches. An interesting thing about these flowers is when theybloom, the first night the flowers are white, but the second night they arepink. These flowers are also pollinated by beetles instead of bees.The giant waterlily was once an interesting part of the lives of people in the Victorian era.This started when two nobles, the Duke of Devonshire and the Duke ofNorthumberland were looking for interesting plants to impress their friends.They decided to compete with each other to be the first to cultivate and bringto flower the giant water lily, which was difficult since the plant was thetropical Amazon basin, but the two nobles live in England, which is a lotcolder.

Hello, welcome to wildSuzhou, Today I'll be talking about Wilson's bird of paradise.The wilson's bird of paradise is part of theParadisaeidae family, or birds of paradise family. Birds of paradise are knownfor their amazing feathers and mating displays. They will start off the displayby choosing a place, and they make sure it's clean. They will perform a dancethat shows off their bright feathers to attract their females. But the danceisn't the only thing they show off, birds of paradise have calls and soundsthey use during mating. For Wilson's bird of paradise, it sounds similar to acar alarm or children‘s toy.The Wilson's bird of paradise is around 21centimeters, or a bit more than a foot. It has many bright colors, such as itsturquoise crown, yellow nape, emerald chest, and the red stripe going down itsback. They also have quite unique tails, two thin feathers that swoop in theopposite direction. Due to sexual dimorphism, which is the difference between thesexes, the female birds are mostly brown but still have the blue on theirheads. The birds can symbolize wealth and power in some cultures.Like the other birds in the family, it lives intropical areas. This bird lives in West Papua, its habitat is lowlandrainforests. It eats both small insects and fruits. To find insects the birdshave spotted tearing bark apart to get the food inside. It's bright colors arebeautiful, but that makes them more valuable to poachers who want to sell thebird its feathers for this reason, their population is decreasing.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.Today, we willtalk about plateaus, which are a type of beautiful and unique landform.First, what is aplateau? A plateau is large, flat piece of land that rises out of the ground.It looks kind of like a table, which is why plateaus are sometimes calledtabletops. Unlike mountains and hills, they don't slowly rise up out of theground, but look like the land has been pushed up entirely. Plateaus can befound on every continent and take up around a third of the Earth's surface.They can even be found underwater.There are twotypes of plateaus: dissected plateaus and volcanic plateaus. Dissected plateausform when the earth's crust moves and a piece of land is pushed upwards.Volcanic plateaus are formed by lava build up in areas after volcaniceruptions.Gradually, theshapes of plateaus can change, usually because of erosion. Erosion is whensystems like water and wind wear down the earth and change its shape. Forexample, there is often a lot of soft rock at the top of plateaus which caneasily erode. Erosion can also eventually split up a plateau into smallersections, called outliers. Rivers can also cut through plateaus and graduallyform valleys.For Wild Suzhou,I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

The sumatran rhino started to disappear in the 80's. This animal used to be found in many places which were Most of southeast asia, as well as malaysia, indonesia, and other islands. Their range got smaller and smaller as they became more endangered.The main reason for their endangerment was poaching. Their horns are considered very valuable to poachers because they are often used in traditional medicine but have no science proving it. This rhino is very important to its ecosystem since it used to be very common.Despite being quite a big animal, the sumatran rhino only eats plants. Their diet includes fruits, leaves, twigs, and sometimes crops. Their habitat also contributes to their diet, they like low altitudes where the plants are abundant and easy to reach. It also protects them from natural predators, such as tigers. There are only around 100 sumatran rhinos left. They are able to start mating at the age of 7-10 and only have one calf every 3-4 years.There are some rhinos in captivity, but due to the fact they rarely mate they still need time for the species to get better. Sumatran rhinos are dark grey and around 8 feet long. They are special because they have two horns and have a little bit of fur on them.For wild suzhou i'm palm tree and thank you for listening.

The atlas moth can be found in South East Asia, the Moths reside in tropical forests where the climate is just right for them. Something very unique about the Atlas moth is that it doesn't have a mouth, so instead of dying of old age or being preyed on it dies of starvation most of the time. It survives out of the cocoon for about a week and relies on stored energy like fat from before they went into the cocoon. They try not to use lots of energy as they try to mate before they die.Even though they have a super short lifespan, they still have adapted ways of protecting themselves. Like other moth species, they utilize camouflage to help them stay protected. Their wings are mostly orange and brown like the plants in their habitat, and have white patches outlined in black, which is meant to scare predators by looking like eyes. Some of the Atlas moths predators are birds, small reptiles, and small mammals.Most of the time they are alive is when they are still caterpillars. For about 5-7 weeks the caterpillar eats leaves all day until it has enough energy to go into a cocoon. The main purpose of the moth is to reproduce, and it's important to the ecosystem because it provides food to other animals. The Atlas moth is one of the biggest insects and also the biggest moth. Its wingspan is 27 centimeters across.For wild suzhou im palm tree and thankyou for listening.

The pygmy three toed sloth is a sloth species only found in panama. It's habitat is exclusive to an island, named escudo de veragua. The climate in panama is warm and tropical, with lots of rain during the cold seasons. these small animals live in mangrove forests, which directly impacts their diet. They eat the leaves of the mangrove trees and it finds good by slowly getting around all day finding and eating leaves. Since sloths are so slow, it's pretty difficult to run away or defend itself from predators, so they rely on camouflage and staying up in the trees. the predators can include wild cats, but if they're in the water, they also have the ability to swim well.The reason three toed pygmy sloths are incredibly important, it's because they're extremely endangered, it's estimated there's only around 30 left. Some things leading to their endangerment is loss of habitat, because the trees are cut down. These sloths are so slow, that some of them onto travel 49 yards a day. They spend most of their day in their tree, meaning they're arboreal. The reason they're so slow is because their metabolism is very slow, so they can't use too much energy at once and they need to conserve it. Pygmy sloths are only 20 inches and weigh as much as a few books.for wild suzhou i'm palm tree and thank you for listening.

The golden toad is an extinct toad species, the last sighting being 1989, that could only be found in a small region of Costa Rica called Monteverde. It's habitat was a cloud forest which is an area with a high altitude with lots of moisture. Most of the frog's time was spent underground where it was moist and safe, but it would come above ground during mating season. Mating season was only a week in April. Like most other frogs and toads, this animal ate insects by going around on the forest floor.This species of toad was last seen in 1989, which coincided with its habitat getting hotter and dryer, it's presumed extinct. It was already a rare animal living in a very small area so climate change was enough to push it to extinction. El Nino, which is a warm current created by water in the pacific is thought to be what made the climate uninhabitable for the toads, since they required a cold and wet environment. It also affected how much rainfall the area got.Another thing that made them go extinct was the chytrid fungus, which caused their skin to have sores and eventually would lead to infection and they would die. The toads were a bright golden and glowy color, as described by the scientists who had a chance to see them. The females were dark with yellow blotches all over them. They were only about 2 inches long and had a lifespan of an estimated 12 years. Scientists weren't able to study this toad much before it became extinct but they were able to use it to draw attention to conservation of amphibians.For wild Suzhou I'm palm tree and thank you for listening.

Hello, this is Wild Suzhou.Today, we will talk about woodpeckers, and why they like to peck wood.In case you didn't know, a woodpecker is part of a family of birds, and they are known for pecking wood. There is a lot of variety among species, meaning different kinds of woodpeckers can look very different from each other. They can be large, or small, brightly colored or rather dull. They live in most parts of the world, except for Oceania, Madagascar, and the North and South poles.Now, why do woodpeckers peck holes in wood? There are three reasons for doing this.First, woodpeckers peck at trees because that's how they get their food. By pecking at trees, it's almost like a drill making holes in the wood, and woodpeckers can then pick out insects, insect eggs, and larvae that they find under the bark. Some similar species, like the sapsucker, will drill into trees so they can drink the sap.Second, woodpeckers will drill into dead or dying trees and make holes that they can lay eggs in and take care of baby woodpeckers. This is also important for other animals, since when a woodpecker is done using a nest, another animal can now make a home in the hole.Finally, woodpeckers will peck at wood because of the sound it makes. It's loud, and it lets other animals know that there is a woodpecker nearby. This helps a woodpecker to establish a territory, or area that it owns and uses, and it can also tell other woodpeckers that they are ready to mate. This behavior is called “drumming”. Woodpeckers are not the only birds who do this, many birds will drum on other objects to alert others that they are there.I hope you have learned a few new things about the woodpecker that are surprising or interesting to you. For Wild Suzhou, I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

Also known as the granulated sea star. the chorister is a starfish species found in coral reefs in warm water all around the world. It's most commonly found in the Great Barrier reef off the coast of northern australia, fiji, the red sea, and indo-west pacific waters. These starfish are extremely important to the environment because they help clean and eat decomposing animals. Their diet is simply carrion, which is decomposing meat. The choriaster starfish doesn't have to worry much about predators, in most regions it doesn't have any but sometimes Sea Snails will include these starfish in their diet. Choriaster star fish aren't deadly nor can they harm humans. They are easily distinguishable due to their round, and bubbly shape. They're pale pink and brown, orange, or red bumps on their back, differing for each one. It has a nickname that is the doughboy sea star because it looks like bread dough. Like other star fish it has the ability to regenerate limbs that have been cut off. Their mouths are on their underside and when they eat, their digestive organs can actually come out of their stomach to get the food. They are about 25 centimeter long and have a lifespan of 35 years. for wild suzhou i'm palm tree and thank you for listening.

Hello, this is Wild Suzhou.Today, we will talk about Voeltzkow's Chameleon, which was thought to have been extinct since the last time it had been spotted was in the 1900's, but it was recently rediscovered. This rare species of chameleon was rediscovered during a two-week expedition to the northern tip of Madagascar. The chameleon had last been seen in 1913, over a century ago, and was only first described by biologists in 1893. The rediscovery of Voeltzkow's Chameleon means that scientists will now be able to learn more about the species.One member of the expedition, Frank Glaw, said that “I thought we might have a good chance of rediscovering Voeltzkow's Chameleon, but I was surprised that it took so long and that it was so difficult.” This is because during most of the expedition, the team was unable to find any of the chameleons, but during the last few days of their trip, they were able to find 3 males and 15 females.The male Voeltzkow's Chameleon's coloration looks fairly normal for a chameleon, being a slightly muddy green color with some brighter green stripes going down their sides. There is also a white streak that runs on either side of their body. When they feel angry or stressed, the bright green stripes turn dark. Females, however, are much more distinct when they are stressed. They become black, with several dotted stripes in different shades of blue going from up to down on their sides. There is also a line of large red dots that goes across their body. Their throats are also bright red or orange.For Wild Suzhou, I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

This tree dwelling animal lives in the Huon peninsula of Papua New Guinea, they live in places called cloud forests because they are so high up in the mountains and clouds are usually covering the sky. They will live in elevations up to 11,000 feet above sea level. Since the habitat they live in is so plentiful, they eat leaves, fruits, moss, and branches. They find food by scavenging along the forest floor as well as the tree tops. Although they live in a remote and hard to get to environment they still have predators. Some of the predators are natural and some are domesticated animals, among the most common are snakes, wild cats, as well as domesticated pets like cats and dogs. They protect themselves by staying in the dense tree tops most of the time. Their population is estimated to be 2,100 left, meaning they are endangered. The matschie's tree kangaroo is well adapted to its environment as it is able to survive in its harsh habitat. Their claws are large and sharp so they can easily climb, and a long heavy tail, which helps animals balance. It also rains a lot in the mountains so their thick fur helps them stay warm, only weighing 20 pounds also helps them survive.

Hello, this is Wild Suzhou.Today, we'll be talking about dogfish and catsharks, two families of small sharks that look similar and get confused with one another though they are only distantly related. However, they look so similar that sometimes catsharks are even called dogfish.First, we will talk about dogfish. They are small, slender sharks with pointed snouts and large eyes. Fishermen named this species of shark the dogfish because they noticed the sharks hunting together in packs, similar to a dog. The most well-known species of dogfish is the spiny dogfish. They have rough skin that appears to be greyish brown in color, which becomes almost white on their bellies. Spiny dogfish are also covered in white dots. Like all sharks, spiny dogfish are carnivores, usually eating fish smaller than themselves, such as mackerels and herring. Sometimes, they will even eat jellyfish and squid. The spiny dogfish is unique since it has a venom spine. The dorsal fin, or the large fin on its back, has a spine attached to a venom gland. This venom is not used for hunting, but rather for any predators that try to attack it. This venom can be mildly toxic to humans but you most likely wouldn't die from it.Now we'll move on to catsharks. Like dogfish, catsharks are also long and slender, with large eyes that look like those of a cat. They are also not very dangerous. Most species have dark skin, but many species have lighter spots, stripes and patches covering them. One species of catshark is even biofluorescent, meaning it can create its own light, like a firefly. Unlike dogfish, catsharks are bottom feeders and usually eat small invertebrates on the ocean floor or small fish. No species of catsharks have venom either.Hopefully you now know some key differences between dogfish and catsharks, though they are not easy to tell apart.For Wild Suzhou, I'm Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

Hello, welcome to the first wild suzhou of 2021, today i'm talking about the Western Sandpiper. The western sandpiper is a bird that you would see a lot if you went to the West coast beaches. Most of the time it lives in California or other places along the coast, even going into south america, but it will fly to Alaska in spring or summer to mate. They spend their winters in the lower half of North America. Since most of the year is spent migrating the long distance, they like to stop on the beaches to eat and rest. These birds will eat insects, crustaceans, mollusks and lots of other stuff they can find on the beaches like mussels and clams. If you see them on a beach and they're all together waiting for the water to go back, this is their way of catching food. They wait for the water to wash food onto the shore, then use their beaks to peck it up nd run away from the water.While the birds are in alaska their predators are big carnivores like red foxes. While they are along the coast, they have to be careful for bigger seabirds who are looking to eat their eggs and babies. The westerm sandpiper is a very small bird, they only weigh a few ounces. The have a white belly, and brown wings and back, with lots of dark spots and patterns, Their feet are slightly webbed which might help them walk along the wet sand easier. The average lifespan for a sandpiper is about 6-9 years .

Hello, this is Wild Suzhou.Today, we will talk about the Umbrella Octopus, which get their name from their appearance. They have webs of skin between their tentacles that make them look like little umbrellas.Umbrella octopuses are deep-sea creatures, which means that they are only found in the ocean's deepest darkest parts. They have been found in the Pacific Ocean, in areas almost 4800 meters underwater. They will usually try to stay within 3 to 4 meters underwater and hover above the ocean floor rather than walking over it.One group of umbrella octopuses is known as the dumbo octopuses. The name Dumbo octopus came from a Disney film, in which one of the characters was an elephant named Dumbo. This group of octopuses has fins on the side of their heads, which look like an elephant's ears. They have large heads, with seemingly short tentacles that, like all umbrella octopus species, have webs between them. The dumbo octopus can come in colors like orange, yellow, red, pink, white, brown, or sometimes invisible to blend in with their surroundings. Dumbo octopuses will feed on prey such as worms, crustaceans such as shrimp, shellfish such as clams, and plankton. To catch prey, they will pounce on top of it, then swallow it whole. Dumbo octopuses are not preyed on by humans, but these creatures are preyed on by sharks and other octopuses.For Wild Suzhou, I'm Ciana; thanks for listening and see you next time.